The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju, who is leading a high-level Central Team to review the flood situation in the North-East Region (NER), visited the flood affected districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji in Assam today. At Lakhimpur, Shri Rijiju held a meeting with the State Minister for Water Resources, Shri Keshab Mahanta, Minister of Govt. of Assam, P&RD, Shri Naba Kumar Doley, local MP Shri Pradan Baruah and officials of the Lakhimpur District Administration and concerned Departments of Water Resources, PWD Roads, PHE, Agriculture, Health Services, Veterinary, DDMA, NDRF and Zilla Parishad to review the extent of damages caused by the devastating flood and the relief measures taken by the administration. The District Administration pointed out that the release of large volume of water from the NEEPCO dam in Yazuli, Arunachal Pradesh caused the flood crisis in Lakhimpur.
Shri Rijiju assured that the NEEPCO in-charge would be directed to hold talks with the Deputy Commissioner, Lakhimpur, to solve the issue of excess release of water from the dam and the resultant flooding of riverine areas of Lakhimpur. Shri Rijiju, accompanied by the State Ministers and district officials, then inspected the breached Ranganadi embankment which was washed away due to the release of excess water by NEEPCO and interacted with the displaced people of Changmai village to take stock of their plight. He assured the early repair and completion of the damaged embankment. Shri Rijiju also expressed concern over the damage caused to the crop and loss of human lives. He directed the PWD Roads Department to take immediate steps for temporary repair of the damaged roads. The Deputy Commissioner, Lakhimpur assured the Union Minister that a detailed damage assessment report would be sent soon. The DC said that the Chief Minister was deeply seized with the problems arising out of the prevailing flood in the district.
Later, reviewing the flood situation at Dhemaji district, Shri Rijiju said that the Centre is very much concerned about the flood situation in the North East Region and he assured that the Central Government will provide all possible assistance to the State Governments to cope with the flood situation. In the meeting he apprised that a sufficient emergency fund has already been released to the State Governments and Rupees 500 crores is available in the SDRF Fund. Besides he also informed that a high level inter-Ministerial team would be deputed to the States within one month to assess the damages. Shri Rijiju said that the NDRF has been alerted to assist the District Administration. During the meeting Shri also distributed a flood rehabilitation grant to the family member of eight-year-old Kulen Narah who died due to drowning in flood water yesterday. Shri Rijiju also conducted an aerial survey of the flood affected areas of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts and later proceeded to Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, where he inspected the embankments washed away due to the river in spate. Shri Rijiju will further assess the situation caused due to floods and landslides in Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow before returning New Delhi on Saturday, July 15, 2017.